Thursday, June 18, 2009

Midweek Time Killers...The One and Only Blelvis

This week, the belated Mid-Week Time Killers post consists of just two items and they both are about Blelvis. The first is Eddie Dean's 1998 Washington City Paper profile of Blelvis. The second is Monica Hesse's article on Blelvis that appeared in The Washington Post in 2007, on the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.

If you went out in dowtown D.C. in the late 80s or 90s, you may have run across Blelvis on a street corner or performing in a bar like D.C. Space. At the time Eddie Dean piece was written, Blelvis was down on his luck. The Post piece, written nine years later, doesn't focus as much on the Blevis' hard times.

Years ago, my cousin and I had a bunch guys we grew up with over one Sunday to watch football. One of the guys, let's call him "R.B.", was quite the Elvis fan, could sing a little himself and was also African-American. That Sunday, "R.B." told me with great pride how he and his boys had run into Blelvis downtown the night before and how Bleivis given "R.B." the great pleasure of singing a few songs with him. After singing a few Elvis numbers, "R.B." suggested they do a song by "R.B."'s all-time favorite singer, Sam Cooke. But, Blelvis would have no part of it and he left "R.B." to sing the Sam Cooke number on his own. Obviously Blelvis is a man of convictions.

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